15 Twitter Tips

I have heard that educators are the #1 users of Twitter. Twitter acts as a PLN (Personal Learning Network) to connect educators together to share ideas, find ideas, provide moral support, make connections, engage in discussions, and to keep current on trends in teaching. Here are some tips to help you build your PLN on Twitter.

Do Not Follow Your Friends: Twitter is not about following your friends, it is about making yourself a better educator. Follow people who share, provide resources and are willing to help you when you ask.

Be a Rabid Unfollower: Do not be afraid to unfollow someone. If you are frequently seeing irrelevant tweets in your Twitter stream you’re going to be less likely to check Twitter often. It is not personal, you are simply customizing your stream.

Do Not Read Everything: Twitter is in the moment. When you check Twitter scroll a little, but do not feel you need to “catch up.”

Multiple Twitter Accounts: If you are into teaching and baseball create a Twitter handle for each. People who follow you follow you for a reason, they probably are not into both of your interests.

Bio and a Picture: People will not follow the default egg picture. Post a picture of your face to help connect with your PLN. (Hint: Smile in the picture, even snarky things sound nice when you’re smiling.) You are trying to attract educators to your PLN, make sure your description says you’re a teacher and other information to attract people with like demographics.

Keep it on Topic: Again, people follow you for a reason. The majority of your tweets should be about education.

Use a Hashtag: Try to post a hashtag to almost every tweet. A hashtag is a topic. This helps you to connect with others interested in the same topic.

Click on a Hashtag: Hashtags are live links in a tweet. Click on a hashtag someone used to see what others are saying on that same topic.

Jump In: Twitter is public. People post on Twitter to engage with a public audience. Do not feel you are intruding on someone else’s conversation. Reply and retweet.

Reply: Replying to a tweet is a great way to engage with and build your PLN. Just remember, if your tweet starts with the @ symbol, it is semi private. The tweet only publishes to the stream of tweeps who follow BOTH of you.

Retweet: A retweet republishes the tweet to your followers.

Recognize Others: Give others credit and lift others up. This is a great way to build your PLN.

Join a Twitter Chat: Twitter chats are a scheduled discussion that takes place on Twitter for one hour. Each chat has a topic for the week, find a discussion that interests you. Check out bit.ly/educhatcalendar to locate a Twitter chat. Click Here for how to participate in a Twitter Chat.

Allow Access: Allow others access into your day to day creative. When you share, others will share with you. Tweet pictures of what your students are working on. Take pictures of your classroom walls. Tweet out ideas you have so your PLN can help you develop them.

Leave Twitter Open: Leave Twitter open on a tab in your browser all the time. This makes it quick and easy to check your Twitter stream really quick to get an idea.

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1 Comment

Terrific list Alice.
Fully agreeing with tip #2. I typically will unfollow Tweeps who don’t post something every day or two. Also, if my tweeps stray too far, too often from the education theme – “unfollow”. Like you said, it’s not personal. I just want to make the most of my Twitter time and keep my feed more focused.
Also, I am seeing more replies (#10) beginning with a “.” before “@” thus making the replies more public. Twitter is such a great connected learning tool. Your list will certainly help folks engage more effectively with their PLN.
Thank you for this learning & sharing forum, Bob